Silent Hill: Trails of Retribution
by Chaos Critique
Summary: You're such a perfect hero on the surface aren't you? But down in the meat, nobodys secrets are safe in Silent Hill. Join Sonic the hedgehog as he battles his way through the town that is hell on earth. Will he atone for his wrongdoings and face a past even his speed won't let him run from or will he succumb to his base self and let the town make him its own?
1. Chapter 1

**HELLOOOOO EVERYBODY! It feels good to be back! I finished my vacation and I'm now considerably blacker than I was two weeks ago. I was going over some new chapters for Sonic Black Ops when my friend pointed out a massive plot hole that I'd missed. In the meantime, I'm gonna have to do a lot of rethinking, rewriting and redesigning but I hate to leave you guys hanging so I decided I'd publish the first chapter of a new story I'm working on (also featuring Sonic the Hedgehog). It is non-canon to the Sonic Black Ops story. Depending on how well it's received, I'll decide whether or not to discontinue it. Just a big shout out to my regular viewers and a huge thank-you as you guys made Chapter 4 of my Sonic Black Ops story my largest viewed chapter with over 200 views in one day! Jesus Christ! I was overjoyed and I really hope I can keep you guys as happy as I always have.**

'**Til next time,**

**Chaos Critique**

Silent Hill: Trials of Retribution  
Chapter 1

On a dry day, standing at the top of the highway leading into Station Square County, a person could always see a plume of dust kicked up off the desert by the constant passage of cars and other vehicles. Today however a person could see an almost storm-like dust cloud powering its way towards Station Square. One could be forgiven for mistaking it as a dust devil, but you'd soon come to realize that most dust devils don't move at 300 miles per hour. The dust devil in question is not a dust devil at all; but is in fact Sonic the Hedgehog, running to Tails's lab in station square as fast as public safety will allow him and making the many other animals owning cars feel that their investment was a bit of a waste seeing as they're being outpaced by a blue hedgehog in old sneakers.  
Sonic thundered into town, blowing away leaves and loose trash as he ran, and was about to take a left at the crossroads when a lorry unexpectedly pulled out in front of him. On impulse his hand shot out and snagged on a lamppost, pulling him into an extreme left turn and straight towards a bench. Rolling with it, Sonic jumped quickly and felt the soles of his sneakers grind across the top of the bench. His troubles didn't end there as he was hurtling towards an elderly stall vender. At the last moment, he leaned forward and pushed off the front of the stall with his hands as he kicked down with his feet. The movement gave him sufficient lift to clear the stall. Sonic tucked his knees into his chest and pulled a tight somersault over the stall, before landing lightly in a crouch on the other side of the stall. Hearing the sound of clapping and giggling from the other side of the street, Sonic stole a quick glance to reveal a group of three cute hedgehog chicks around his age, all watching him intently from across the street. Sonic stood, dusted himself off, apologized to the stall vender and sent a cocky wink and smirk to the girls across the road before setting off for Tails's lab.  
Sonic pulled into the lab about two minutes later. It was a small facility just on the fringes of the town, but Tails called it home. Sonic knocked once and the door instantly sprung open with a short orange kitsune, who was totally covered in grease and oil, staring out the doorway.

"Sonic!" cried Tails. "You made it! You look a little rough man. Did something happen?"

"Just a little traffic trouble on the way out here." came Sonics reply. "I got your message and came as fast as I could. You said you wanted to show me something?"

"Sure! Come on in!"  
Tails pottered off down the hallway with Sonic right behind him. At the end of the hall they passed through a set of double doors, leading them straight into Tails's lab. The place was a mess of machines, machine parts, gadgets, gizmos and all other manner of tech; some in working order, some partially assembled and some in the process of disassembly. Tails quickly disappeared among the many piles of parts and was lost from view.

"So, where's this miracles machine you were talking about on the phone?" Sonic inquired. "You sounded pretty excited about it."

"Over here!" came the call from behind a pile of junk. Sonic manoeuvred around the trash to find himself looking at Tails's "miracle machine".

"Beautiful isn't it?" asked Tails wistfully.  
To Sonics eye it looked like he was staring at a giant spider made of chrome plating with only six legs. It was as tall as he was and had two spikes topped with green orbs; one sticking out of its head towards a partially singed podium and one sticking out of its abdomen facing towards the ground.

"Granted Tails, it looks nice, but what does it do?"

"Well, you know the way I'm always complaining about the amount of work I have to do?"

"Kinda… yeah." Replied Sonic, unsure where the conversation was going.

"Well, that's what this is for." He motioned towards the chrome spider thing. "I've got thousands of designs of gadgets I think could help you when we're fighting Eggman, but with the amount of badniks that I have to disassemble every week, I don't have the time to build any of the stuff. That's why I made this. Come on! I'll show you."  
Tails led Sonic to a huge control panel with a huge array of buttons and multi-coloured lights. He pressed some keys on the panel before turning back to Sonic.

"It's difficult to explain how it works, so I'm just going to show you. Put that toaster on the burned podium, will you?"  
Sonic turned to find a brand new toaster sitting on the counter behind him. He hefted it on to the podium and stepped back as Tails started keying more adjustments into the panel.

"You might want to cover your eyes. This tends to be pretty bright."  
Sonic put his hands over his eyes, but left a crack in his fingers to see through.

"Okay, here it goes."  
The lights in the room suddenly went dim, no more than a flicker was left, as the machine began to hum and vibrate as it came to life. The green orb on the spider's front began to rotate so slowly it could barely be seen, but began to pick up speed and light quite quickly. The faster the orb spun, the brighter it became until it was almost too much to look at. Suddenly, a piercing beam of light shot out of the orb and hit the toaster, intensifying the light and creating a horrible hissing noise as if the metal was boiling where it sat. The noise and light finally reached an almighty climax when the toaster looked like it was shrinking into a tiny white ball, too bright to look at, and then exploded with a deafening _crack._  
The whole thing was over as quickly as it had happened. The lights returned to normal as the noise disappeared, leaving the room in its previous quiet but messy state. Sonic uncovered his eyes to see the toaster had disappeared, not even a pile of ashes left as testament to its existence. Sonic turned to Tails with a look of scepticism on his face.

"No offence Tails…" he began. "…but incinerating all your work won't help you when people come looking for blueprints."  
Tails just shook his head smugly.

"To the untrained eye, it would look like I'd just destroyed that toaster, but I have in fact caused it to change state. Sonic, have you ever heard of the matter-to-data theory?"

"No."

"Well, the theory is based on the recent finding that information has weight. When large amounts of information are stored in electronic devices, they become slightly heavier than they were when they were "empty" of data. This would suggest that data is a form of matter and anything can be changed into data as long as enough energy is supplied to it. But that's not even the cool part! Once an item is changed into data, the change is irreversible. It's a bit like making toast. If you give the bread energy, it'll get hot but it won't turn into toast; but if given enough energy it'll change state and can't change back. Amazing isn't it?"

"Yeah…" agreed Sonic, thoroughly confused. "So you're telling me you changed a toaster into computer code?"

"Exactly."

"I still can't see the practical applications of this."

"Uggh. You're so stupid sometimes." Tails raged. He beckoned Sonic over to the computer panel where lines of computer code were scrolling down the screen in no particular pattern.

"When an object changes to data, it retains a residual code image of itself. In simple terms, it contains every bit of information about itself transferred into coded information. Its height, weight, design, material etc. etc. The computer processes this information and creates a 3D blueprint of the item that's been zapped."  
With that, a simple blueprint of the toaster appeared on screen. It contained every detail and looked stunningly realistic. Sonic was lost for words. Seeing his shocked expression, Tails cracked a sly grin.

"And we're not even at the cool part yet." He teased. "Watch this."  
Tails pressed some more keys on the computer panel and the chrome spider began to fire up again, except this time the bottom sphere began to rotate and glow with a green light. A glass dome descended in segments from the machines underbelly to connect and seal the orb inside it as it began to work. Pretty soon, small silver clumps began to form in the air inside the glass dome before merging together into a gelatinous blob on the floor. The blob soon hardened though and began to take a rectangular shape as small dents, ridges and hollows began to form across its surface. Within no time at all, the blob had stretched out and turned into an exact copy of the toaster. Sonics eyes flicked momentarily back and forth between the on screen blueprint and the new toaster that sat in front of him. They were perfectly identical in every way. The glass dome lifted with a slight hiss, releasing an unknown gas. Sonic wandered over and picked up the toaster and turned it over in his hands, feeling every line and crevice, remembering how every detail had been the same. It was incredible.

"Tails, this is amazing! How does it work?"

"It's actually a lot simpler than the first stage of the process actually." He began. "The individual atoms in the air are bombarded with slow-moving protons and neutrons until they mutate into the atoms of a particular element or substance that the machine is made out of. It makes a rough shape first and then cuts out the details and makes the mechanics using the same method, except with high-speed neutrons to shatter or destabilize the unnecessary atoms."

"We should fire this bad boy up and give it a test run!" Sonic wandered over to the wall socket and plugged in the toaster. There was a sudden _whoosh_ and one Super-Sonic second later he was standing back in the same spot with a loaf of bread.

"Sonic don't!" yelled Tails as he tried to get around the piles of trash. "I need to-"

"-get the jelly? Good idea." Said Sonic as he slid two slices into the toaster. "Come on man, what's the worst that can happen?"  
As Sonic said it he flicked the switch on the toaster to turn it on. All hell broke loose. The toaster sent out a shower of sparks before the filaments on the inside began blazing white hot. The bread inside immediately caught fire and sent choking black smoke up into the fire alarm, which triggered its high, piercing wail. Sonic stumbled back as the waves of smoke, heat and noise all hit him simultaneously as Tails tried to put out the flames with a fire extinguisher that was tangled up among all the junk on the floor. The blaze was quickly settled, with nothing left but a sparking, melted blob of a toaster left behind. Tails looked properly annoyed with Sonic.

"I was about to say that I needed to test it before you used it." Spat Tails as soon as the fire was out. "The machine works but, for some reason, everything that comes out of it seems to malfunction. You're just lucky that it didn't blow up in your face, unlike some of the other stuff." He motioned with his head to a charred pile of metal off on the other side of the room. Sonic, having recovered from the sudden shock was finally beginning to come back around.

"Any particular reason why they don't work?" he asked.

"No, actually." Tails admitted. "I've taken apart every single one of them and the design has been perfect each time, but they just don't seem to work." He sighed heavily. "A wise man once said: _A machine will never behave as it should, no matter our efforts. It as if there are ghosts in machines, giving them wills of their own._ Maybe that's what's happening here?"

"I don't know about ghosts and machines, but I do know about space and dude, you don't have enough of it. You need to throw out some of this junk. Here, I'll help you."  
The two friends made light work of the mess and within a half-hour, there was barely a single pile of trash left in the room. Sonic was sorting through a pile of decrepit computer consoles when he saw something interesting. He reached down to the bottom of the pile and pulled out an old Sony PS2. The console was large, clunky and dusty but still looked in working order. He pried open the disc slot to find a copy of _Silent Hill 2_ sitting in the drive.

"Hey Tails! Look what I found!" He waved the console at his friend who had wandered over for a closer look. His face warmed a little at the nostalgia of the old console, but his brow furrowed at the sight of the game inside it.

"I don't ever remember playing a _Silent Hill_ game." Remarked Tails. "Come to think of it, I don't even remember owning one. Weird, huh?"

"Sure is. What do you want me to do with these?" Sonic motioned to the consoles.

"I'll take them upstairs to the dumpster. You stay here and keep finding stuff." Tails grabbed an armful of consoles before lugging them across the room, up the stairs and out of sight. Sonic looked back at the PS2 and, as if feeling bad for it, plugged it into the wall among the mess of wires before moving his attention onto more oily trash.  
Suddenly the lights in the room went out. Sonic stood frozen in the dark as a total silence he hadn't noticed before surrounded him.

"Tails?"  
His call was only greeted by the sound of his own voice. Sonic felt a strange panic rising in his chest as icy fingers brushed across the surface of his heart.

"Tails, if this is a prank, it's not funny! Turn the lights back on!"  
But Tails didn't reply. Instead Sonic heard a gentle buzzing sound behind him as a sickly green light began to rise from the dark. He turned as if in slow motion, dreading to see what was behind him but was cut off in mid-turn by sudden blinding white flash. He felt himself go rigid, stuck completely in place, and then the stretching began. It felt like each individual fibre of his being was being stretched out and pulled apart by huge, invisible pliers. Then the stretching stopped and began to reverse itself, slowly crushing him smaller and smaller until he felt that his bones were going to break and turn to dust at any second. Sonic tried to yell, but found he didn't even have room to draw breath or move his jaw. Then, there was black. With nothing but black, Sonic felt like he was floating in air, surrounded by an eternal limbo where he could move or think, only exist.  
Sonics eyes sprung open. Instead of lying on the floor of Tails's lab, he found himself outside, face down in the middle of a dirty concrete road. As he hefted himself up to sitting position, he noted he was no longer in Station Square. The shops and houses around him were a lot smaller, dirtier and slummier than they would be in Station Square and everything was saturated in a thick, grey fog. He sat for a minute before he heard a slight hissing of static coming from beside him. He looked down to see small walkie-talkie lying on the ground next to him, hissing horribly. He picked it up and began to hear the occasional word sputter through it.

"Sonic-…happen-…Tai-… respond-…" Sonic had to listen hard to get even the slightest word out of the machine, but figured out that Tails was trying to communicate with him. He pressed the return button and sent a message back.

"Tails, it's me, Sonic. I need your help. Something happened in the lab and now I'm in some weird foggy street."

"Sonic?" came the tinny reply from the walkie-talkie loudspeaker.

"Tails! Oh thank god! Man, where am I?"

"I'm still trying to figure that out for myself. My invention that I was showing you fired off while I was upstairs. I think you may have been hit with the blast."  
Sonic felt his skin go cold.

"Does that mean… I'm computer code now?" he asked.

"If you were, I'd be able to zap you back, but I can't find your biological information on the computer! I don't get it! There were only two mass storage devices with enough memory capacity to house all your biological information, the machine and my laptop. There's nothing else that could possibly…" Tails trailed off there, as if something had caught his eye.

"Tails? Tails?! What's going on?!" yelled Sonic.

"Sonic, did you say you were in some kind of fog covered town?"

"Yeah."

"Does everything look strangely grey and rotten?"

"Yeah."

"Sonic I don't want to say this, but I' gonna have to. You need to go to the end of the street and find a sign."  
Sonic did as instructed and soon found a worn sign standing on two rotten posts. His eyes glided over the heavily darkened lettering before coming to rest on two words at the end of the sign.

"Did you find it?" asked Tails.

"Yeah." Muttered Sonic, mouth having gone dry.

"Read it." No reply.

"Sonic?" Sonic couldn't reply. He'd already let the walkie-talkie clatter to the ground and was sinking to his knees, eyes still fixed to the sign, two words still going non-stop inside his head.

_Welcome Visitor,_

_Please enjoy your stay, it may be permanent._

_Silent Hill,_

_SILENT HILL. Silent Hill. Silent hill…_

**Hey Guys,  
Am really excited about starting my first horror fanfic. Am sorry if first chapter is not very scary, but I needed to set the scene. Anyway, am going back to school soon, so don't expect anything on this story or Black Ops for a while. Am sorry about delays but I have writing troubles and a personal life that conspire to destroy my writing career, lolz =). Enjoy and please give me some feedback, I always appreciate it.**

'**Til next time,  
Chaos Critique**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey Guys! Glad I got a free moment to keep up with the Silent Hill fanfic. I was really happy with the response to the first chapter and hope I can keep you guys entertained. Before we start though, I have to let you guys know something. I've never played the Silent Hill games myself but I've studied the Silent Hill universe carefully and hope I can deliver a good creep factor to you all! **

**Silent Hill: Trials of Retribution  
Chapter 2**

"Sonic? Sonic, are you still there?"  
Sonic snapped to attention to the sound of Tails's voice coming out of the communicator he was holding. He'd forgotten he'd been holding it. Numbly, he raised it to his lips and spoke:

"Yeah, I'm here. Dude, this is way past creepy. I need you to get me out of here now."  
He heard scuffling down the end of the line followed by Tails's voice.

"I can't."

"Why not?!" Sonic yelped.

"All your biological information is mixed up with the rest of the information on the disc. If I tried it now, you'd die in mid-transfer. Our only hope is for you to reach a sync nexus."

"What's that?"

"It's a point where all the other information on the disc has been processed and all that's left is you. Like for example, just before the game resets after the credits roll."  
Sonics ears pricked up.

"That's my only hope? Play through this messed up game so I can escape with the credits?" he asked incredulously.

"It's a long shot, but it's the only thing I've got with half a chance of working. It's that or you try to escape the game, get onto the hard drive and find your way into the memory card. At least here I can keep an eye on you and I know how the game goes. If you do what I say you should be fine."

"Alright. Where do I go first?"

"Well, first you need to-" Tails was cut off in mid-sentence by an ear rending scream from two streets over. Sonic was moving like a flash, pounding as hard as he could to reach the source of the noise. When he pulled into the street, he found a young hedgehog girl being menaced by two hideous, twisted, humanoid monsters. He charged up and punched the closest of them in the head. It reeled and fell as the other blindsided him and sunk its blackened tooth stubs into his arm. He wrenched his arm away, clutching the wound and almost tripped over a rusted lead pipe in the process. The creature leaped on him, scraping at his face with rotten, grey finger stubs and squealing. Sonics hand fumbled for a weapon when it clasped around the lead pipe. He swung it and felt the crunch as it broke the creature ribs. It hissed and rolled over, desperately trying to pull itself away. Sonic didn't let it get away as he swung again. The pipe rang as it crunched into the creature's neck, shattering its spine. Sonic turned to find the other creature on all fours, circling him slowly. From where he stood it looked like the corpse of a middle-aged woman, its skin rotten, leathery and covered in small wounds and scars where it hung loosely from a bony frame. It circled him upside-down, walking on its hands and feet with its head hanging sickly below. Its face had been obscured by a thick mess of black hair before, but now its face was more than visible. Its mouth was surrounded by streaming sores. Its lips, teeth and tongue were all black and it didn't have a nose, just two slashes in its face. Its eyes were the worst though. Like a pair of white eggshells set into its skull, discoloured with a toxic yellow, ringed by a deep scarlet. The creature suddenly leaped, hissing and screaming. Sonic swung the pipe with his good arm and it cracked into the creature's side. It fell but Sonic was on it, smashing at its skull with the pipe and didn't stop until is brains had been dashed all over the road.  
He stood, his right arm slick with his own blood and the blood of the two creatures. He went to take a step, but fell from the exhaustion of the fight. The hedgehog girl ran out to him and kneeled down next to him.

"Are you alright?" Her voice was full of concern. She spotted his arm and gasped. "Oh my god, you're hurt! Stay still." She reached down and tore a strip off the hem of her skirt before wrapping it around his arm. While she was dressing the bite mark, Sonic finally got his first good look at her. She looked like Amy. _A lot_ like Amy. But there were some differences. This girl's hair was longer, as it went down well past her shoulders and she had a more grown-out fringe. Her eyelashes were also much darker and longer than Amy's. On top of that she was also much shapelier than Amy, her curves more pronounced. If Amy had been a few years older, maybe she would have looked like this girl, Sonic thought.

"I'm Sonic by the way." He said and winced as she tightened the bandage. "What's your name?"

"Rosie." She said. She looks like a Rosie, thought Sonic.

"Well thanks Rosie, but I need to keep going. I've got somewhere I need to be." He tried to stand but his head swam and his legs gave way even as he was going up.

"You're in no state to be travelling. You've lost a lot of blood." Scolded Rosie, but seemed to think better of it after a moment. "But, it's not safe to stay out here. There's bound to be more of those things out there and if you can barely walk, you certainly can't fight. Come with me."  
Rosie bent down and hefted Sonic up, taking as much of his weight as she could handle. They began a slow, shaky walk down the street but Sonic soon fell into rhythm and suddenly they were moving at a decent pace. They made their way down the thickly fogged streets of the town until they came to the front of a crumbling, grey three storey building. The buildings face was covered in an uncountable number of stains and marks. The windows were smashed in but the door was bolted shut, the screws that held the door closed dripping streaks of rust down the doors face.

"Quickly! Around the side!" said Rosie.  
Once around the corner, Rosie set Sonic down and made a grab for a withered bush growing next to the building. A quick pull revealed a sheet of corrugated iron sitting behind it. Rosie shimmied this aside as well to reveal a small window leading down into the buildings' dank basement. She slipped in up to her waist, then beckoned Sonic to follow her. Once she was in, Sonic rolled his piece of pipe through the gap and sat down to slide through when something flickered at the edge of his vision. He turned his head involuntarily and spotted a blurred shape standing deep in the fog. The shape was indistinct but somehow familiar as Sonic pored through his memories to find a connection. Then something struck him. A memory he hadn't thought of in years. The five dangling quills that hung so freely, the trench coat that billowed in the breeze, the way he held himself, the slight cocking of the head; the smile once forgotten.

"Dad?" Sonic stood without trouble and was about to begin walking when he heard a shout from behind him.

"Get in here already!"  
The moment's distraction had been enough, as Sonic now looked back into the mist and found nothing there except endless, grey oblivion. Confused, Sonic returned to the hole and slipped through into the basement beneath. No sooner had he entered before Rosie sprang up and pulled the iron sheet back over the hole. The already dim basement was submerged in black until a single light sparked as Rosie struck a match from across the room. She raised it to a gas lamp and lit the wick before extinguishing the match flame. The soft, yellow light it emanated revealed two wooden crates beneath the lamp. Rosie sat down on one and motioned for Sonic to do the same. He thudded into the seat tiredly. His arm throbbed. The two sat in silence for a long time, but Rosie eventually broke it.

"I never thanked you for what you did back there. It was incredible brave…"  
Sonic was about to reply when Rosie looked up, eyes wide and urgent.

"…but it was equally stupid!" Sonic was taken aback by the intensity of her words; by how they were so quiet but carried such weight.

"The only way you can survive here is by looking after yourself and nobody else. That's how I've lasted as long as I have. If you ever end up in a situation like that again, leave the other person behind. It doesn't matter who it is, just run and don't stop!"  
Rosie went quiet and solemn, looking down at her feet like she'd just said something she shouldn't have but Sonic waited until she looked back up before he began speaking.

"That's not how I work Rosie. I'll help anyone who needs it, regardless of the circumstances. As much as I appreciate the concern, if I did act your way, you wouldn't be alive to tell me that. So if you don't mind…" Sonic reached down and plucked up the length of pipe he'd brought with him with smirk on his lips. "…I'll be hanging around. You're my responsibility now and I'm yours. We protect each other mutually. That's what friends do."

"How do you know I'm your friend?"

"If you weren't, would you have ruined such a pretty dress just to bandage me up or risked taking me to your hideout, knowing there are more of those _things_ out there?"  
Rosy was silent to the point of being shocked. When she spoke she sounded unsure and surprised.

"Wow… I don't think anyone's ever said anything that nice to me before, except maybe my sis-" She stopped mid-word, seeming to choke on it; her throat constricting at the syllable.

"Something wrong Rosie?" asked Sonic. Her voice was low and tight.

"It's nothing."

"I think you're lying to me. Come on, what's up?"  
Her head suddenly snapped up violently, eyes blazing and wild as she glared at him.

"**I SAID IT WAS NOTHING! OKAY?!"**  
The silence that followed was almost as deafening as Rosie's yell. Sonic waited until he was sure Rosie had calmed down until he spoke again.

"Okay Rosie, we won't talk about it if you don't want to. I understand people need their privacy."

"It's fine." She dismissed him with a wave of her hand. "I shouldn't have snapped like that. Just in future, when I say no, I mean no."

"Okay." Sonic went to say, but was interrupted by a loud moaning from his stomach. He'd rushed breakfast to get to Tails's quickly and now he was starving.

"Not to sound like a tourist or anything…" he began. "…but any chance I could get a chilli dog in this town?" Rosie giggled faintly.

"If they open up a Taco bell, I'll let you know." she quipped. "But seriously, I don't keep food. I move every three days so keeping it is pointless, plus it rots pretty quickly. If you want something to eat, we're going to have to scavenge for it. You able to walk?"  
Sonic hopped to his feet and bounced lightly on his toes, lead pipe in hand.

"Of course! It takes more than some creepy grey thing to put me down."  
Sonic scampered up through the window, tossing his pipe ahead of him before turning around to lend Rosie a hand up. Once they were both out, they began a cautious walk down the road, ready in case any cosmic monstrosities decided to pounce on them.

"Remember Sonic, you can't let your guard down for even a second." Rosie whispered this into his ear. She was standing so close behind him, it almost felt like she was pressing up against his back. Sonic was afraid she might tread on his shoes. "Those grey things are still out there." Sonic turned back and cocked her a reassuring smirk.

"Don't worry about it. I didn't know what to expect last time and I still got rid of two of them. Now I'm armed, experienced and ready to go! Those things don't stand a chance." His confidence seemed to pick Rosie up a little and so they continued onward, now a little more at ease. But soon Sonic heard something weird. He began to hear an indistinct murmur just over his shoulder but when he looked back Rosie's lips weren't moving. He tried to ignore it, but what had been a whispering murmur began to escalate into a demonic hiss. He turned back to Rosie and the look on her face told him everything he needed to know. She heard it too. Then the change began. Sudden holes began to burst through the concrete, bleeding out fiendish black and red tendrils that slithered forth and consumed everything they touched. Paint seemed to peel off the front of cars and buildings and float away, revealing the hunks of bloody meat that they were made out of. Dirt and grime grew like an accelerated living fungus from every surface as rust and decay spread out from surface to surface like some horrible infection turning the fog red as it went. It was if the whole world was rotting to pieces around them and all they could do was watch as it took hold. The black and red tendrils had burrowed their way into the meat of other objects and they began to pulse and throb with the same sickening rhythm. Suddenly the two had gone from standing in a rotten world, to being inside a giant, hellish beast that surrounded them at all times. Sonic didn't know why he hadn't already lost it, but could feel the panic rising in his chest and decided to do as much as he could before he did.

"Rosie, what's going on?" he asked cagily. But Rosie didn't answer. She was standing stock still with her hands over her mouth, terror frozen into her features as her eyes moved fitfully across the landscape of living gore. "Rosie!" She finally snapped out of her trance but still only said two words.

"The town…"

"What about the town Rosie?" asked Sonic, feeling more distressed and annoyed by the second.

"This is it. What we all see is a cover. Like a mask. But this is the true town. This is what it's really like. This is where _they_ live." Rosie spoke with an adamant finality like this was the last thing she'd ever say. Sonic didn't like it.

"Who are _they_?"  
Rosie turned to him, with nothing but fear and a deathly certainty in her eyes.

"The monsters."  
As she said the words, the hissing and whispering came to an abrupt end as the black tendrils stiffened and the worlds sudden decay slowed to a stop. The silence that followed was even more disturbing than the world they were standing in. Sonic felt a slight shake going up his leg, figuring that it was his nerves coming through, but the shake turned into a vibration and continued with a slow, continuous beat. Looking to his right, Sonic spotted a dirt filled puddle next to the sidewalk. Each time he felt the pulse, the puddle sent out small ripples across its surface. It wasn't nerves. Something was out there. Something huge. And it was coming for them. Raking his eyes across the mist of blood, Sonic tried to find whatever it was but every curled tendril of shadow looked like a monster. Every object looked like some kind of inescapable evil in disguise and every section of mist was more than capable of concealing the real thing. It was like trying to find a stranger in a crowd, except that person's identity changed every few seconds. Then, a solid shape of pure black began to fade out of the mist. It was blurred, but it was moving, getting sharper, getting closer and with every second the shaking going up Sonics leg was getting stronger and more violent. Sonic levelled his trembling pipe at the creature as if it would protect him, but if it was coming for him and Rosie, he could at least give it something to hunt for long enough for Rosie to get away. The mist finally faded back and with a resounding _Boom_, the creature took its final step into their field of vision. Rosie gasped and Sonic nearly dropped his pipe as his radio began to crackle and emit static like crazy. The creature was easily six foot tall and made of pure, unadulterated muscle. It stood slightly hunched over and still managed to be huge, with arms so long that they trailed slightly along the ground as it moved, fingers tipped with wicked yellow claws. Its entire body was covered in bloody, matted black fur and its feet seemed to be encased in huge blocks of stone with its ankles rubbed raw and bloody. It didn't seem to have a head, just several long, black quills that stretched from between its shoulders, down its back and hovered a few inches above the ground. Without a head, Sonic hoped it was ambling about blindly, not really searching for him or Rosie as he feared. Almost as if it had heard the thought, the beast twitched towards them and began to stand in full, bringing its chest up to full view. The sight that emerged almost caused Sonic to drop the pipe he was holding. Set into the creatures chest was a face, scarred and feral, but still recognisable to the eye. It was his face. Staring back at him like some brutal, sadistic parody his face was twisted into some animalistic snarl. Suddenly, the creature swung a huge claw at them with surprising speed. Sonic barely had time to throw himself to the ground and pull Rosie with him before the claw hurtled overhead and crashed straight through the wooden fence they been standing beside. Splinters of rotten wood rained down as Sonic tried to yell something to Rosie over the mayhem.

"Run!" The command hardly seemed necessary considering the situation but Rosie didn't need to be told twice. They scrambled to their feet and dashed around the creature as it tried to lift its hand, revealing another face of like Sonics in its side, except this one tracked them with blank, pupil-less eyes. The quills on the creature back began to stir and elongate before shooting out at Sonic and Rosie. One wrapped itself around Rosie's ankle and began to pull her back towards it.

"Rosie!" Sonic charged back and began to beat brutally at the quill-tentacle but it was like hitting a sack filled with water. He tried to stab it with the pointier end of the pipe but the creatures' leathery skin wouldn't be penetrated. All the while, the tentacle pulled Rosie back with agonising slowness, as if relishing their struggle for life. As she drew close, the other quills parted to reveal a third face of Sonic in the creatures back, but it was far more wolf-like with a pointed muzzle and rows of fangs that snapped and bit in anticipation for the kill. Rosie was screaming blue murder as she relentlessly tried to prise the tentacle off her ankle, tears streaming down her face all the while. Seeing this, Sonic rushed up to the beast in his anger and swung the pipe two-handed into the wolf face. The teeth shattered and buckled as the pipe collided with the mouth as jetting sprays of blood erupted from slit gums and ruptured eye sockets. In its pain, the creature let go of Rosie. She scrambled away as fast as she could as Sonic retreated back to help her up. A sudden swell of confidence went through Sonics heart. This fight wasn't hopeless. The creature could be hurt. But even as they were born, his hopes were dashed as the creature hissed and squealed in inhuman rage and pain, the face on its back already regenerating. The blood flow stemmed, wounds were sealed in seconds and new fangs forced themselves bloodily out of the creatures still re-moulding gums. The face glowered up at them and unleashed a roar of pure hatred.  
_I didn't hurt it at all,_ thought Sonic. _I just made it angry._

"Rosie, get out of here now!" he yelled. Ignoring his better judgement, Sonic charged the creature, pipe swinging like a maniac. The creature saw him and swiftly dispatched him with a powerful backhander that sent him slamming headfirst into the walls of the surrounding buildings. Sonic heard more so than felt a sharp _crack_ as his head collide with one of the walls of meat. Despite the squishiness of the meat, it felt like Sonic had slammed straight into a bone underneath it all. He slid pitifully to the ground, the creature leaving him for dead and focusing instead on Rosie. She tried to scamper, but one long arm slammed down to cut off her escape as four tentacles from its shoulders slithered forward to take her. The blow to the head had done more damage than Sonic thought, as his eyelids began feel heavy and his mind seemed to slow to a near standstill. The creature was retreating into the blood mist now, trailing Rosie behind it like a trophy. She still clawed desperately at the ground for something, anything that could change her fate but all that happened was her finger starting to bleed as they scraped the concrete. She reached out with a hand and called as loud as she could.

"Sonic! Please, help me! I don't want to die!"  
Even in his stunned state, Sonic struggled to get to his feet from a sitting position, but just toppled over onto his side as soon as he moved. Lying on his side, the world looking totally vertical, he caught one last glimpse of Rosie before the mist swallowed her up entirely. Her screams carried on for a few more seconds until there was a sudden guttural, choking, hacking noise, a sharp intake of breath and finally, silence. Sonic raised his hand feebly and gripped weakly at the air as if the act would bring Rosie back.

"Rosie…" he whispered before his hand hit the ground and darkness washed over his mind.

**Hi guys! I really hope this chapter is as freaky as I intend it to be! Not that I want to give anyone nightmares, but if you find yourself looking over your shoulder for the next few minutes then my job is done. Hope you all enjoy this chapter and note, this will probably be the last you'll hear on this story until this time in October as school is really getting in the way. I'm still accepting OC's for the story but the max I can do is three characters before I lose all connections to the plot. Leave your characters details in a review of the first chapter or send me a PM. Remember to include age, looks, clothes, personality and most importantly, a back story (especially if it's traumatic). As always, thank you for the support, I don't know what I'd do without it and of course…**

'**Til next time,  
Chaos Critique**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi Guys! Sorry, it's been so long since I updated this story thread, but I have a policy of working on my stories in a rota, one chapter to black ops then one to silent hill! I'd really like to thank everyone for submitting their OC's for this story, but felt ShadowEmpress76's character really fitted the role I wanted. I'm still accepting OC's though, so don't hesitate to send me a message and tell me all about them. But, since I'm using his character, I officially credit ShadowEmpress76 as co-author of this story! Congratulations man! And remember, if I use your character in this story, you'll be credited as one of the story****s' co-authors!**

Silent Hill: Trials of Retribution  
Chapter 3

The world began to shift from its pure black state into shades of grey, every new grey revealing a new shape and awakening a new sensation. At first Sonic only felt and saw only the most immediate of things. The gravel scraping his cheek, the weight of the pipe in his hand, the coolness of the air and the incessant throbbing in his arm and head like he had two hearts placed there just to agitate him. Gradually, he began to perceive the rest of the world, from its dull grey mist to the drying pools of brackish, red liquid on the pavement. Painfully, he pulled himself off the ground and into an uncomfortable sitting position. Everything hurt. The bite mark in his arm had flared up again and now pulsated in time with his head where he'd hit the side of the building. With a grunt, he reached back and gingerly touched the back of his skull. His fingers came back streaked with red. Then the memories came rushing back. The grey creatures, Rosie, the shifting town, the red mist and _**it**__._ His thoughts were shrouded in images of that monstrosity, faces feral and unforgiving as it dragged a defenceless Rosie into the red mist and then, to her death. He was fighting two battles, one in his mind and one in his body as he tried to rise weakly to his feet while trying to figure out what to do next. _Shelter_… whispered his instincts, fighting to keep him alive. He wasn't going to be caught outside again in case the town changed. Vision blurred and fading, Sonic managed to stumble forward a few steps before falling onto the ground and blacking out. Minutes passed before he reawakened, vaguely remembering his first rise to consciousness and feeling barely strong enough to breathe, let alone stand. Tired, hungry, alone and in pain, Sonic felt like the easiest thing to do would be to simply lie there and wait for the end, almost longing for the bliss of oblivion in order to escape the towns torment. He rolled onto his back, closed his eyes and tried to let his mind go, but one scene kept replaying itself over and over under his eyelids like a video stuck on a loop. Just a few seconds of Rosie looking shy and a little embarrassed when they were back in the cellar after he'd told her he wasn't going to leave her, suddenly punctuated by her last few hopeless, screaming attempts to escape certain death. No matter how hard he tried, it was burned into his vision and mind like a tattoo of guilt. He finally snapped out of it when his own mind finally turned on him. _You said you'd be there for her! _His conscience seemed to be screaming at him, telling him every last thing that he didn't want to acknowledge. _You said you'd be there! You said you'd protect her! Now she's dead, and you're just going to give up?! No! You've got to live for the both of you now! You have to get out of here or her death means nothing!_  
As much pain as it caused him to acknowledge it, Sonic knew it to be true. He had forced her outside in order to search for food and if he hadn't, they would have been safe inside while evil corrupted the world outside. He was the reason she was dead. He had to escape, or there would be no one to remember Rosie. They both would just become another one of the lost souls swallowed by the demon town. Fighting the sickness assaulting his senses, the pain attacking his body and the guilt assailing his mind, Sonic pushed himself to his feet and tried moving forward while using the pipe like a cane. His progress was excruciatingly slow and with shadows moving and appearing everywhere; he was wide open and defenceless should any monsters attack him but he managed to make it down the street before he had to stop for fear of passing out. His dizziness had ascended to vertigo that made him feel like he was trying to balance on a flimsy wooden pole more than a hundred feet in the air during a gale. He would have put it down to blood loss, but the roaring ache in his stomach and cracked, parched lips told him it was more than just that. He tried to soldier on, but each step only worsened the feeling. He needed food. He needed water. He needed shelter. Just as it seemed that his legs were going to simply refuse to move, Sonic spotted something. A single basement window with light glowing inside it. Fate was on his side! All he had to do was travel the ten or so meters to reach it and fall through into the basement. Once he was inside, he could rest a little before going back out to find food. Easier said than done though. Sonic took a shaky step forward, beginning to close the distance. He kept going, willing each foot to move that next step towards safety, but on his sixth step he lost his grip on the pipe. Without anything to lean on, Sonic crumpled to the ground within two steps. Looking up, broken in body and spirit, from his stop on the ground he could almost reach out a grab the window sill. He couldn't stop now! He was too close to give up. Forcing himself to see Rosie as she scrambled for life, he let all his sorrows, anger and aggressions fuel him in one last shove. He shunted across the ground and wrapped his fingers around the sill, desperately pulling the dead weight of his body across the threshold. Once his chest was over, he simply let go and flopped into the basement. His back thumped the concrete floor, knocking what little wind was left in him, out of him. Sonic just lay there, almost crying from relief. His calm was swiftly shattered though, as an indistinct grey shape shot out of the shadows and wrapped a claw around his throat while he felt a something cold and hard being placed against his forehead. Sonic tried to do something; anything, but he didn't have anything left to give. He just lay back and let the darkness that he'd been so longing for swallow him up.

* * *

The first thing Sonic felt when he reawakened was surprise. In all honesty, he hadn't really expected to wake up at all. _Maybe I'm dead…_ he thought; but the incessant throb in his arm and gut wrenching pain in his stomach told him he was very much alive. His body gradually coming alive again, he felt one thing above all he hadn't been expecting; warmth. He actually could feel warmth kissing the surface of his cheek. The feeling was as welcoming as it was unexpected. Opening his eyes and sitting up, he realized he was still in the same basement he'd crawled into earlier; except now, he wasn't alone. In the basements centre was a small fire with a dark shape hunched over it. Getting to his feet with greater ease then he thought should be possible for him, Sonic cautiously approached the shape. As he moved towards the fire, the light slowly revealed the shape to be a wolf. But it wasn't a wolf monster or wolf creature; it was a wolf like him. It was another anthromorph. It would have been comforting if he hadn't just remembered he was still in a video game that only featured humans and monsters. The wolf was mostly grey in colour, but had occasional streaks of black in his fur with small red stripes running down the centre of the black patches. He looked male and reasonably tall, but in no way huge or physically imposing. He was wearing a black T-shirt, with dark denim jeans; their bottoms tucked into a pair of heavy, black boots. He was sitting on top of a crate, a leather jacket covering the top, staring into the fire; the orange of the flames flickering across the surface of his misty grey irises. Once he was in full view, his eyes momentarily flickered up to Sonic before returning to the fire.

"You're welcome." He mumbled without shifting his gaze.

"What?" asked Sonic, confused.

"Your arm. You don't have to thank me. You're the first person I've seen here in nearly a month."

Sonic glanced down at his arm and realized that the wolf guy had dressed his arm while he'd been unconscious. The bloody scrap of dress Rosie had used had been replaced by a grey, but clean bandage that wound all the way up his arm and was tied perfectly.

"Sorry." Replied Sonic. "I hadn't noticed."

"That's not uncommon. People tend to have their senses a little muted after being in the kind of state you were in…" the wold trailed off, sighed and looked back at Sonic gravely. "But, I feel that my efforts have been wasted. You're dying."

"What?!" Sonic spluttered, eyes wide in panic.

"I've seen those kinds of bite marks before. You wouldn't think it, but those creatures are venomous. The venom is going to travel to your heart, lungs and brain and is going to rot them to pieces. I've seen plenty of people go the same way. You'll grow weak and lose all stamina. Then the paranoia will kick in. It'll pick you away piece by piece until your heart gives way under the strain of bring in a constant state of panic while you drown as your lungs fill with blood. To say that it's excruciating would be putting it mildly. It'll be hell."  
Sonics mouth had gone dry. His head pounded in time with his arm. He was so thirsty.

"Then… how much time do I have until… you know…" he managed to strain out.

"The venom reaches its lethal stage at about the twentieth hour. Judging by your bite, it's been in you about five hours. Do the math." He stated.

_Fifteen hours... _thought Sonic. That's all the time he had left to escape. If he could get out by then, maybe Tails could do something. But if he didn't…

"Well, since I don't have any time left to waste, how about we get straight to introductions?" asked Sonic with a forced air of cheeriness. He offered his hand to the wolf. "The name's Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog." The wolf looked at the hand with a bored and almost disdainful expression.

"Ekaru." He said monotonously before turning his back to Sonics outstretched hand and grabbing some more wood for the fire.

"What?" asked a confused Sonic.

"My name. It's Ekaru."

"Okay…" muttered Sonic as he withdrew his hand. "So, now what?"  
As if triggered by his words, a sudden chill began to ride up Sonics spine and across the surface of his skin. The fire seemed to lose all warmth as Sonics breath turned to wisps of steam in front of his eyes. Small black tendrils, thin and wiry, began to creep along the surface of the floor.

"Oh god…" whimpered Sonic, panic rising in his chest. "It's happening again!"  
Seeing that Sonic was beginning to lose it, Ekaru rushed over and clamped and on his shoulder.

"Relax!" he shouted. "The town shifts all the time while I'm in here. Nothing's ever happened before, so nothing is going to happen now."

"Alright…" Sonic managed to puff out in between the rapid rise and fall of his chest. "What's next?"

"The town shifts with no particular pattern as far as I can tell." began Ekaru as he rolled up his jacket into a ball beside the fire. "Changes tend to last a while, so it's best if we grab some sleep until the town shifts back." He had already lain down next to the fire and was now nestling his head into his jacket, using it as a makeshift pillow. "And you'll want to stay close to the fire. It can get pretty cold down here."

Ekaru turned over so his back was facing Sonic and seemed to be asleep in mere seconds. Sonic had other plans. He hunted around where he'd woken up as quietly as he could until he found his walkie-talkie. Trying not to wake Ekaru; he radioed Tails and after a few moments of pure static, snippets of the kitsunes voice began to come through.

"…onic… Com… in… ou… there…"

"Tails, it's me. I'm alive if that's what you're asking."  
Tails's voice finally broke through clearly enough to make out what he was saying through all the static.

"Oh thank god, you're not dead! What happened out there? First it was the screaming, then smashing, then it went quiet and then suddenly it sounds like smashing again!"

"Yeah… yeah…" said Sonic, mind preoccupied with something else. "Tails, I need you to look up a wiki for Silent Hill 2. One for characters and one for monsters. Can you do that?"

"Okay…" he sounded dubious, but the tell-tale click of computer keys signalled he was searching for the wiki's. "I've got them here. What next?"

"Look up 'wolf' or 'it' on the creature list. See if you can find something with a couple of faces. Once that's done, look up 'Rosie' and 'Ekaru' in the character list."  
The line went quiet while Tails set to work. After a minute or two Tails picked up again, sound perplexed and irritated.

"There's nothing there. Nothing that fits your names or description anyway. Why do you need to know this stuff?"  
Sonic gave him as brief a summary as possible of everything that had happened since they'd last been in contact, but purposefully omitted the fact that he'd been poisoned so as not to throw his friend into a panic. Even just from his breathing, Sonic could tell that Tails was pretty rattled.

"This doesn't make sense." He said. "None of this is in the programming."

"I hate to say this Tails, but I think this has gone way beyond programming. Everything I've encountered since I got here has been really familiar in a kind of warped, distorted way. I think I even saw my fath-" Sonic cut himself off; surprised the words had left his mouth without even realizing it.

"Sonic, we both know that's impossible." Tails was starting to sound like his old self again, even after everything Sonic had told him. "It's a game. It follows rigidly set guidelines that it can't stray outside. I'd put what you've seen down to stress, exhaustion and faulty programming."

"It's not, man. There's something wrong about this place. There's something else out there."

"It's a game! Get it into your head! It isn't out to get you!" Tails suddenly burst out angrily. The line went dead for a minute before Tails's voice came back through. "Look, I'm sorry I snapped Sonic, but I've got three weeks of overdue blueprints due, my electricity bills are through the roof and there's also the matter of my best friend being computer code on a fucked up game!  
Just stick with our original plan and follow the path of the main character until you reach the end. Get to the sync nexus and then get out. Simple."

"Fine." Sonic sighed, too tired to argue. "Where do I go first?"

"Head towards the Rosewater Park and turn off into the nearby apartment complex. That's where you should find James Sunderland. If you find him, stick to him like a shadow. If not, contact me and I'll give you the next destination." Just then, Ekaru began to stir in his sleep, rolling back and forth; almost into the fire. Afraid he'd hurt himself, Sonic quickly said his goodbyes and went to wake Ekaru up. By the time he'd made it across the room, Ekarus rolling had turned into a full-blown, thrashing struggle. Sonic grabbed him by the shoulder to shake him awake, but he kept on flailing.

"Ekaru!" yelled Sonic to no effect. "Calm down!"  
A vicious fist shot out and struck Sonic under the chin, sending him sprawling. No more than a second later, Ekaru had pinned him to the ground with his forearm; semi-automatic suddenly in hand and pressing against his forehead. Sonic was now back to how he'd been when he'd first fallen into the cellar: defenceless and possibly seconds away from death. He probably would have thought it was ironic if hadn't had a gun jamming itself against his skull. Taking a hasty glance upwards, he saw that Ekarus eyes were still screwed shut and there were what looked like tears leaking out of the edges.

"Ekaru, you need to calm down!" yelled Sonic. "You're just having a bad dream!"  
The gun butt smashed against Sonics cheek, stunning him, but Ekarus eyes remained firmly shut.

"Shut up!" Ekaru suddenly roared. "Where is he?!"

"What?" The gun barrel pressed ever harder into his forehead as the firing hammer clicked back.

"Don't play dumb with me asshole! Everyone knows it was you who ratted him out to Deity, so start talking! **Where the fuck is he?!**"  
Sonics heart was pounding. If he didn't do something, Ekaru was going to blow his brains out. Then a thought occurred. It was risky, but if he did nothing, he'd be killed for sure. With a sudden rush, Sonics fist slammed heavily into Ekarus exposed gut. The wolf's eyes sprung open like a flood gate as the wind rushed out of him. Ekarus eyes only glanced around for the briefest of moments, but in that time, Sonic could see the horrible light of recognition rise to their surfaces. He fell back; gulping down lungful's of breath. Sonic lay on the ground too, panting in part from adrenalin and panic. When both their heart rates had settled back down, Ekaru sat up but refused to meet Sonics eye. Instead he seemed content to just stare disdainfully at his discarded semi-automatic handgun lying on the cement floor. Silence sat heavy and oppressive in the air until one of them gathered the nerve to speak first. That day, it turned out to be Sonic.

"Ekaru… I think you need to tell me what's really going on in that head of yours." Ekaru remained stoic and secluded until Sonic spoke again. "If you don't want to say, it's fine, but I need to know that I can tru-"

"Shut up will you?" mumbled Ekaru. "I'm trying to think of where to start."

* * *

"I was never really normal in a sense, even when I was young." Began Ekaru. "I can't say I liked fighting or still do, but I got a kick out of it. I think I got it from my older brother, Zane. He wasn't textbook smart or that friendly to most people, but not with me; he was everything you could want. He knew all the tricks, he looked after me and he'd take the fall for me whenever I got in trouble. I asked him once why he did it. All he said was 'Just 'cause'." He paused for a moment to take a breath before continuing. "Then there was Hana. She was the youngest of the three of us. Always optimistic and caring; I don't I've met anyone like her since." He smiled sadly. "Trouble started when our mom died. I was about ten, Zane was thirteen and Hana was four years younger than me at the time. Our dad had been an okay guy up 'til then, but I think losing mom pushed over the edge. Suddenly he'd start coming home late, stinking of booze and there'd be no food in the house. We couldn't ask him about it 'cause he'd think we were being smart asses and get violent." He stopped for a moment, seeming to dredge up the energy to keep talking. "We put up with that for three long years and things only got worse over time. Zane and I had talked out leaving hundreds of times, but we never did because we didn't want to leave Hana with **him**. But, one day, that all changed."

"Dad had mostly beaten the crap out of the two of us during that time. We made sure that Hana didn't get hurt; but one day she comes home from school with a note from the principal saying that our dad's being investigated for child abuse. Turns out a teacher had caught her crying in the bathroom and she'd cracked. When dad found out, he lost it worse than I'd ever seen before. He starts yelling about losing child support money and how we never cause him anything but trouble. Zane tried to step in but he just got put through a window. I couldn't take it. The look of fear and sadness Hana had on her face was more than I could stand, so I tackled my dad as hard as I could, just to try to distract him at least. I never expected what came next.  
When I stood up, I could see my dad's head wasn't on the right way. His neck was twisted wrong. I think he might have hit it off the fire-place or table when he fell, but I never found out. All that was irrelevant. All I knew was that he was dead and it was my fault."  
Ekaru stopped again, but when he began again, his voice carried no sadness or remorse.  
"So we did the only thing we could do. We ran. Zane and I got as much money as we could find as well as a little food and clothes before we left for good. Trying to explain it all to Hana was the worst part. Why we were sleeping in bus shelters, eating crappy food, never going home and then showing up in school acting like nothing was happening. Another year went by like that until I had an idea."  
"Zane couldn't get enough to support all of us from the money he scraped from odd jobs around town; so he thought to move to the city to get more. The only problem was that I wouldn't be able to look after Hana properly without him around. So I decided I'd go. I was only fourteen, but I looked older and if I lied about my age, maybe I could get a part-time job in the city at minimum wage. That would mean I could send money back to them and I'd have just enough to live off myself." He sighed. "When I left, I didn't make a big deal out of it. I just left." He chuckled humourlessly. "Station Square, here I come. Choo- choo!" he sang mockingly, mimicking a train sound. "I never actually made it. Halfway there I got picked up by what most people would call bandits. In actual fact, they were the Dark Disciples."  
Ekaru pulled on his jacket, while simultaneously turning up his right sleeve to reveal his wrist.

"The Dark Disciples were a motorcycle gang whose origins lie in the belief that the angels that rebelled against God with Lucifer were instead banished to earth as mortals instead of Hell. The gang believes that it was a cult originally founded by the disgraced angels themselves." He turned to Sonic and displayed a patch on the jackets left breast, with a near matching tattoo on his left wrist. "The Gothic cross represents god, but its sharp, pointed ends represent his malevolence. The eye represents Lucifer's vision of a new, greater heavenly order, but the eye is stained and sickly, showing how God saw his plan as unholy and corrupted. The words _Dark Disciples_ is representative of the angels fall from grace and how they were once disciples of god, but are now considered evil. The lettering used to be_ P__rofund__o__ clama__mus__ ad te Domine__; From the depths, we cry out to you O Lord_. It was supposedly what the angels cried to god for forgiveness. The half-circle is representative of the angels' belief that their justice has only come half way. They belief that one day, god will fall and they will rise to take his place." He pushed down his sleeve again before continuing. "As such, the gang had a class system, whereby each person had a social status to which they were bound. By performing certain actions they could rise through the ranks until they reached the top. At the top was our leader. They were always referred to as Deity. His council below him were the shamans. Then there were the warriors, then the scribes and then the laymen. Everyone outside the gang was branded as a heretic."  
_Deity? Wasn't that who he was talking about in his sleep?_ thought Sonic. He'd have to keep an ear out for that.

"Gang life was brutal and there wasn't shred of morals about anyone, but I bit and I clawed and I fought my way through it. Hell, before I left, I was a warrior, well on my way to becoming a shaman. But then things changed." Again Ekaru went silent, but this time it looked as if he didn't have the will or the energy to keep going. The quiet stayed for a long time until Sonic decided it was his turn to speak.

"Go on." He cajoled. "There's no point stopping now."  
Ekaru sighed heavily and rubbed his eyes before he went on.

"I spent the best part of three years in a bloody haze. I don't know what I did in that time and back then I don't think I cared either. But that changed when I met Tovias. One day, a group of laymen out on a scouting task pull in a scrawny-as-shit, fifteen year old jaguar. I was seventeen at the time. Most of the guys just wanted to beat him up for fun but, after they threw him into the campsite, nobody could catch him. Guys got pissed of pretty soon and even started shooting at him, but nobody could hit him. This went on all day. He even bashed some guy over the head with a hub cap when he got cornered." He laughed. "Tiredness got the better of him though, so they pulled him in and say he should be executed on the grounds of being a heretic, causing trouble and resisting capture. I was amazed at the kid's spirit, so I just couldn't let that happen. I had a small word with the shamans; suggesting that we should train him instead on the grounds that if he can make the best of us look like fools now, imagine what he could do for us if we trained him. I managed to sway them and I was put in charge of his training. He was resentful of me at first. He was resentful of us all. Heck, if a gang tears up your home and everything you know, wouldn't you be too? Anyway, our relationship changed gradually until I was someone he could rely on and he started to remind me of the family I'd almost forgotten I had. He had Zane's spirit, charm and friendliness, but he had Hana's sense of compassion.  
Whenever we went on raids, he'd always let people go as much as he could or leave food or money behind for survivors to find. While he did everything he had to, I don't think he ever enjoyed any of it." Ekarus voice was no longer its usual, grim monotone. It actually had hints of fondness to it and warmth. It was odd.

"For as long as I can remember, Tovias spoke about leaving the gang. I knew that was impossible, but I decided to let his fantasy live a little. However as time went on, it seemed he actually had a coherent plan. I decide that'd I'd help him and go with him when he was ready. Just to help keep our façade up, Tovias set out to unofficially assassinate the leader of a rival gang, _The Ring of Skulls._ While the hit was a failure, it earned him huge respect." His voice turned grim. "That would prove our undoing. After two years we were ready to leave, but one night _The Ring of Skulls_ attacked one of our encampments and slaughtered dozens of men." His knuckles cracked as his hands tightened into fists. "Deity wouldn't accept the blame and so created the lie that he had tasked Tovias with the assassination mission in a hope to avert such a slaughter. Any respect he had earned was turned to hate and suddenly all those who had been congratulating him only the day before were now hunting him down." Anger was rising uncontrollably in his voice. "I must have beaten at least six of them to death before one broke and told me where they'd taken him." His voice finally cracked, but he shut up long enough to regain some of his composure. "I found his body hanging from a tree outside the camp. They'd ripped the patch off his jacket, cut the tattoo off his arm and carved one word into his forehead: _Unworthy…"  
_Ekaru looked up and Sonic could see his eyes had gone red around the edges and he was barely keeping the water works from going off.  
"There was a warehouse…" he managed to choke out. "A place where either of us could go in case anything happened and where we'd be safe." Now the sorrow was gone, instead a fiery fury was rising in the depths of his pupils. "I got everything I needed from there and I went back… and I slaughtered them…" he whispered. The he started to chuckle. A maniacal chuckle that sounded as if he just realized what he was saying and he liked it. "I slaughtered them. I barred them into their huts and poured gas down the chimneys. I shot anyone I saw, regardless of who they were or what they'd done for me! I walked in fields of blood and corpses and I didn't leave a single person alive!" he shouted. He stopped, panting hard and fast before looking up. In that moment, Sonic caught a glance at the madness the truly festered inside this guy, but so rarely came out.

"But I had something special in mind for Deity… I found him and shot through his kneecaps so he couldn't run. I cut off his fingers so he couldn't crawl. I cut out his tongue so he couldn't call for help and then I strung him up on a tree and did to him what they'd done to Tovias! Except I made sure he was alive when I was finished…" he said with a sadistic smirk. Sonic sat dumbstruck by everything he'd just heard. He didn't know what to think. He now appreciated the kind of mental damage Ekaru had gone through, but he might have been able to trust him better if he hadn't known what he was capable of. After a long time Sonic finally spoke.

"And Deity… what happened to him?"

"Left him for the birds. He's probably dead, but if not, I wonder what kind of life he's living… If you can call it living."

"And all that stuff you were yelling… That was you with those six guys who killed Tovias?"

"I still have nightmares about it sometimes."

"You still haven't said how you got here."

"It's actually not that complicated. I realized what I'd done. I panicked and ran. I fell and hit my head and when I woke up, I was here." He gestured vaguely around him. "Anything else you want to know?"

"There is one thing I still don't understand. When I fell in here, why didn't you leave me to die?"  
Ekaru shrugged and looked away.

"I don't know… If I had to guess, it's because of your eyes. You and Tovias have the same eyes. Now that I think about it, you two are kinda' alike." He sighed once more.

"I'm sorry if I was kinda' resentful and distant at first but, it's because of your personality. You remind me of him more than I care to remember and I resented you because of it." He kept looking away, but Sonic put a hand on Ekarus shoulder and steered him back towards his face.

"Look, I know you miss your friend and you feel that you can't balance out what you did wrong, but you can get through this. It's okay to miss someone. I know what that feels like. And no matter how bad you are or what you did, if you're sorry for what you did and you try to make amends, you can be forgiven. Hell, patching me up proves there's good inside you! We can get out of this place and make everything better…" Sonic stood up. "… and for a start we're gonna find your family."

"What?"

"You heard me. If you can get me and you out of here, I'll help you find your family and when you meet Tovias again, you can look him in the eye and say that you did well by him."  
Probably since Sonic had first met him, Ekaru smiled. Not a sadistic smirk or maniacal grin, just an ordinary smile. Sonic offered his hand.

"Deal?" Ekaru palm slammed into his and they gripped each other's hands.

"Deal." On the word, the room temperature began to rise again. The tendrils began to withdraw and fade away as the room returned to its dank but normal self.

"I think that's our cue to go." smirked Sonic as he clambered towards the window.

**Yes! Finally! I have been working on this chapter for so long, it's ridiculous! I wanted the feel to be right and I'm sorry I didn't post this last night, but I was at a friend's house and didn't get back until 1.30 and was too exhausted to finish the chapter. I hope you guys enjoy this and I'm apologizing in advance to ShadowEmpress76 if I messed Ekaru up. Hope you enjoy and feel free to review or comment if you wish!**

'**Til next time,  
Chaos Critique.**


	4. Chapter 4

**And now we return to our regularly scheduled programming featuring everyone's favourite blue land mammal and a haunted town. Enjoy!**

Silent Hill: Trials of Retribution  
Chapter 4

_14hours 43minutes left…_

Emerging back onto the streets, the hedgehog and wolf found them exactly as they'd last left them; misty, filthy and grey. As Sonic went to walk to the sidewalk, Ekaru shoved him back to the wall and shook his head. Without speaking, he motioned to the back of the house with his hand before reaching into his jacket and producing two identical, gleaming semi-automatics. He handed one to Sonic and mouthed three words. _Last resort only._ They stalked quietly around the back of the house before dashing across the street, into an empty alleyway. They crouched for a moment while Sonic brought Ekaru up to date on the plan.

"I contacted my friend outside of here while you were asleep. I think I might have a way out for both of us." He whispered under his breathe.

"How can you contact people outside here?" asked Ekaru, baffled.

"Long story. We need to get to the apartment complex near Rosewater Park. Any ideas on how we get there?" The wolf thought for moment before looking back up.

"I've got two ways in mind. One's short and dangerous and the other's long and slightly less dangerous. Your pick." Sonic smirked.

"Short and dangerous. Time isn't on my side and you only live once." Ekaru returned the smile.

"_Carpe Diem." _He replied.  
The two began a dangerous succession of dashes across streets and between cover before creeping through scummy back alleys and abandoned boulevards. They progressed slowly through the town until they found their path blocked by a pair of grey creatures, hunched over a body, backs exposed. They were eating it slowly; the silences occasionally punctuated by a sickening crack of bone or tear of meat, and didn't seem to be moving anytime soon. Ekaru motioned to Sonic to ready his lead pipe, while he pulled out what looked like a heavy knuckle duster, but turned out to only be the handle of a modified bowie-knife. The two crept down the alley, soundlessly approaching the oblivious grey creatures. Just as they got ready to strike, one of the creatures raised its head and sniffed the air. The two anthromorphs froze in place, willing the creature not to turn around. With no such luck, the beast whipped around and hissed sickeningly at them. The two leapt down, Sonics pipe thudding heavily into the first creatures shoulder while Ekarus knife sunk heavily into the other creature's neck. While the second monster was dead instantly, Sonics monster squealed in fury and leapt at him, but was stopped as Ekaru grabbed its ropy black hair and yanked it back. Getting one hand on its jaw and crossing his arms, with one sharp yank, Ekaru simultaneously broke the creature neck and slit its throat; sending visceral sprays of black blood across the ground. He dropped the body, disgusted, and wiped the dripping fluid from his jacket.

"You should have aimed for the neck." He chastised, crouching over the semi-eaten corpse. "If you had, we wouldn't have had this problem."

"Sorry." Was all Sonic could say. "I missed in the heat of the moment."

"Well don't next time." Ekaru said, turning back and tossing Sonic a small dagger. "This'll be better than you current kit."  
As they passed the body, Sonic could see that it was a woman in her early twenties. Her stomach had been ripped open and the creatures had been hollowing out and eating her torso. A sudden vision of Rosie flashed into mind along with an almost overwhelming wave of guilt.

"We can't just leave her here." Sonic stated suddenly. "Shouldn't we bury her or something?"  
Ekaru just looked back on him pityingly.

"Can you dig through stone?"  
Sonic remained silent.

"Thought so. Come on, we need to get moving before more of those things arrive. If the smell of the body doesn't attract them, the noise we made will."

The two kept moving as quickly as they could without creating any noise.

_There's still some good inside him. He's just doing what he needs to survive,_ Sonic told himself. But still, even if part of Ekaru was good, Sonic wondered what the rest of him was made of. He shook his head. The guy had saved his life and was probably his best chance of getting out of this nightmare alive. The last thing he needed to be doing was questioning Ekarus morals. Besides, even if his partner was possibly mentally unsound, having someone with you helped dull the sense of panic and paranoia that threaten to swallow you up when walking down a dark, foggy street. And what chance would he have had of finding Rosewater Park without Ekaru? None, that's what. Questioning Ekarus morals was definitely something he didn't need to be doing.

"We're almost there." Whispered Ekaru. "We just have a short break across open ground before the apartment complex. Move fast and keep your wits about you. This place is always heavily infested."

The two readied themselves for the hundred or so feet of open ground that lay before them, praying that nothing would happen.

"Go!"

Ekaru burst from cover, Sonic not far behind. He could have outpaced the wolf if he'd wanted, but losing Ekaru now would make him dead just as easily as losing his pistol and knife would. The hundred meters was over in a flash, Ekaru pulling sharp into an abandoned doorway and yanking Sonic in after him. The two paused there to catch their breath, hoping their noise hadn't roused any of the grey creatures.

"Well that went better than expected." Commented Ekaru. Just then, a horrible, low, groaning creak came from just above their heads. Looking up with an almighty sense of dread and foreboding, the two saw a horde of grey creatures hanging from the ceiling by their fingernails, seemingly asleep. Sonic looked about ready to lose it, but Ekaru clamped a hand over his mouth and motioned towards the door. They began an agonizingly slow creep towards the door, trying harder than ever not to make a single sound. The seconds crawled by as the door came tantalizingly close, but the two had been so focused on being quiet that they hadn't noticed the rotting floorboards beginning to sag heavily under their combined weight. Just as he was reaching the door, Ekaru leant too heavily forward and his heavy boot went through the floor with a wet _Crunch_. He swore loudly as sharp splinters of wood dug into his thigh as his leg disappeared through the hole. Sonic went to pull him loose but every movement that got Ekaru further out of the hole was accompanied by an unpleasantly loud crack and splinter of damp wood. The wolf finally worked himself free and, by some miracle, the noise hadn't woken the horde hanging from the ceiling. The two would have been home free if a single button from his jean hadn't popped after the ordeal in the hole. The shiny, silver ring clattered to the floor with a small but sharp tinkle. Al the creature eyes sprung open simultaneously, filled with one longing that could only spell trouble: Hunger.

"Fucking Run!"  
Sonic didn't need to be told twice. Not bothering to hold any speed back this time, Sonic grabbed Ekarus wrist and bolted from the room as fast as he could while dragging his partner behind him. Ekaru desperately tried to keep his footing as Sonic pulled him with more speed than he thought was possible but the grey creatures were down and after them like a shot, charging after them on all fours like a pack of ravenous wild dogs. Sonic pelted up a staircase, still dragging Ekaru, but tripped halfway up. In that split second stop, Ekaru had whipped out his semi-auto and had fired off two consecutive shots at the creatures. The first shot ripped through one creatures arm, shattering the bone and leaving the creature squealing in agony on the staircase. The second shot tore straight a chunk through another creatures head, dropping it dead on the spot. However, the other creatures flowed heedlessly over their fallen comrades like an insidious insect hive crossed with a tidal wave. With the tide of creatures far from being stemmed, the two anthromorphs broke for cover once more; pushing hard to outrun the wild pack of slobbering beasts behind them. Glancing back for a second, Ekaru could see the things practically nipping at his heels; but looking forward again noticed that Sonic had disappeared from sight.  
_SHIT! That bastard left me behind!_ He thought viciously. _Why did I ever trust him?_

Ekaru turned a hard left corner and dodged into a deep doorway, desperately trying to silence his breathe and make his presence less felt. A second later, most of the pack came tearing around the corner straight past him without glancing left or right. Then came ten or twelve stragglers that ran after the main pack, but stopped every once in a while to look around. But worst of all were the slow ones. These, while slower and weaker than the rest of the grey creatures, were more methodical in their search. They would scurry a couple of feet at a time, survey the area and taste the air before hopefully moving on. But one such creature stopped just outside the doorway that Ekaru was hiding in, lingering for far too long for it to be coincidence. The thing stood and flicked its black tongue, sampling the air again and again until it malevolently turned its head to stare at Ekaru with its pearly, dead eyes. Ekaru held his breath tighter and willed himself to melt deeper into the shadows, but he was wedged firm against the door. The creature began to turn the rest of its body in preparation for its meal, acidic spittle dripping greedily from its maw and the various holes in its cheeks. Ekaru silently drew his pistol and knife, ready for the moment of contact. If his shot missed, he'd have to tear its throat out, break its neck or stab it in the heart at the very least to stop it. Those things weren't smart or strong, but they were damn well resistant. And he'd have to be quick. If he left it too long in such a small space, the thing would get its teeth or claws into him for sure and then it would only be a matter of time before the blood loss got him… or the venom. Steadying his pistol on his knife arms forearm in preparation for the shot, all the while keeping his breath inaudible, Ekaru was ready to make the move that could free him or seal his fate. And he would have pulled the trigger if a hand hadn't shot out of the dark, clamped over his face and yanked him into the now open doorway before slamming the door shut behind him. The grey creature hurled itself at the door repeatedly in fury at having its meal stolen away, but the door held firm. Recovering for a moment after being snatched through the doorway, Ekaru saw that it had been Sonic who had pulled him through and was now trying to tip a heavy wardrobe over to reinforce the door.

"You gonna help me or just sit there?!" he yelled over the frantic noise of the grey creature howling and throwing itself against the door. Without a word, Ekaru was up and had his shoulder to the wardrobe within seconds. Their combined strength was enough to rock the huge mahogany cabinet to the ground and slide it against the door, but left them exhausted and panting on the floor while the noise on the other side of the door only got louder as more bodies piled into the fray.

"I thought… you'd bailed… on me…." Ekaru managed in between gulping down lungful's of mouldy air.

"Now why… would I do that?"

"You know those people I said I met here before?"

"Yeah."

"Most of them bailed on me pretty soon, mostly 'cause they lost their cool in a situation like _this._" He said, pointing his thumb at the now bulging door. "They took their chances because they didn't trust me and ended up dead. I thought you might've been the same."  
Sonic managed to prop himself up on his elbows before he spoke.

"Look, I'm not stupid. I know that you know how to survive here. Ditching you here would be like throwing away this gun…" he lifted up the semi-auto Ekaru had handed him earlier. "…in the middle of a fire fight. But more importantly, I made a promise to a friend that I'd help him find his family." He said rising to his feet. "And I'm the kind of person who keeps the promises he makes." Sonic offered his hand to Ekaru and the wolf sprung to his feet with the help.

"So now that we're here, are we just waiting for those things to get in or do you actually have a plan?!" shouted Ekaru over the cacophony of noise erupting from the other side of the apartment door.

"Actually yeah. Follow me." Sonic led the way from the main room to a grubby and decaying bathroom where the window had been knocked out of its frame.

"Down here." He said while pointing towards the alley submerged in darkness beneath them. "I'm not sure exactly how high the drop is, but we're only on the second floor so it can't be too bad."

"I'll go first." Said Ekaru, pushing Sonic aside to get through the frame. "If I get down without killing or mortally wounding myself, I'll call you."  
Sonic hoped that was an attempt at black humour, but he couldn't be entirely sure. Ekaru dropped and there was a second of silence before the sound of his boots impacting the ground.

"All good!" he yelled. Sonic perched himself on the ledge and was just springing off when Ekaru called up to him.

"Be careful! The opposite wall is much closer-"  
He didn't get any further though, as Sonic jumped from the window and smacked head first into the opposite wall, sending him sprawling painfully onto the cold, wet concrete.  
"-than you think…" Ekaru finished, a touch of a smile on his lips. "You okay?"

"Yeah." Replied Sonic painfully. "I think something broke my fall."  
He turned over to see what he'd landed on, but of all things he'd expected, a semi-disembowelled corpse was not one of them. He leapt away from the corpse with a startled cry, the movement causing its head to loll and then separate completely; top jaw from bottom jaw, leaving nothing but a greying tongue to wag at the space where the rest of the head used to be.

"I'm gonna be sick…" Sonic moaned. Even stern Ekaru was looking more than a little perturbed at the sight. Try as they might, the two couldn't tear their eyes away from the body and seemed to be sucking in more and more gruesome details every second. The body was lying on the ground, back propped against the wall. The chest had been rent open and hollowed of organs, but a small ragdoll with pearly black eyes hung loosely from a protruding rib. The head still rolled merrily around on the concrete, occasionally turning to reveal black eye sockets with the eyes burned out and to add to it all, there wasn't single drop of blood on the ground or the corpse. Instead, something had collected it all and smeared it across the back wall in a simple six word child's rhyme with arrows pointing towards the corpse.

_**You don't play?  
Then you pay…**_

"Dude, this is too messed up!" exclaimed Sonic, nearly in hysterics.

"Sonic, calm down!" pacified Ekaru. "Here, call your friend. Maybe he can tell us a bit more about this."  
Sonic did as he was told, trying to get Tails over the static-heavy line of his walkie-talkie. After about a half minute of fiddling a voice finally broke through.

"Hello? Soni… ome… in…"

"Tails! Oh thank god you're here buddy, there's some serious shit going on in here."

"What's the problem?"

"Me and Ekaru got chased by this horde of monsters. We got away okay, but I fell on this corpse and there's this rhymes written in blood on the walls and I'm totally losing it!" Sonic shouted, speech becoming faster and more panicked with every word.

"Just relax dude. Tell me what the corpse looks like. If it's still there, it could be symbolic or important."

"Um.. okay…" stuttered Sonic, not really wanting to look back at that maggot sack of a body but forcing himself to. "I think it's a guy. It's hard to tell. Probably around thirty or something and there's a bit of blonde hair left."  
Sonic waited for a response, but the line was deadly silent. Not even the static was making noise now.

"Sonic, what is the corpse wearing?" asked Tails, voice cold and grave.

"Uh, a green outdoors jacket and maybe a pair of jeans. Why?"

"You know that plan we had of following James Sunderland to the Sync Nexus?"

"Yeah."

"We're gonna have to call that off."

"Why?!"

"Because I think you just found his corpse."

**Now, before anyone says it, yes, this did take an unreasonable amount of time for just 5 pages. Right now, Fanfiction is kinda' my go-between project and practice area for my other writing. I'm also teaching myself to draw right now so I can do conceptual character designs for my stories (Including this one). I'm still keeping my promise of a new chapter once a month, but I'll have another one of these in about two weeks because this bit was sort of stunted and difficult to write. The next part is far clearer in my head. Anyway, always thankful for the support, review, favourite or follow; it's up to you.**

'**Til next time,  
Chaos Critique**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hi guys! This part is gonna be a special chapter, can't say why yet but I can feel it! Hope it all goes down well and I have to say this to ShadowEmpress76 before we start. Ekaru had a good run and I really like him, but I did say this might happen; so all good things must come to an end…**

Silent Hill: Trials of Retribution  
Chapter 5

_13hours 26minutes left…_

"But…" the words died in Sonics throat. The bottom of his word was falling away. "But… I thought James was supposed to survive?"

"That's what's supposed to happen Sonic, but you've seen it yourself, this place doesn't seem to run by any rules." Said Tails, defeat tainting his voice. "With Sunderland dead, I can't think of any other way to reach the Sync Nexus." He paused and sighed heavily. "Look, I can't think of anything right now, but give me some time and I might be able to build something that can rewrite the code on the disk to separate you from everything else. 'Til then, just hang tight."  
Sonic dropped the radio to his side, the world suddenly seeming so much greyer and the shadows so much darker. He felt Ekarus hand on his shoulder, but couldn't bring himself to look his friend in the face. Eventually he managed to turn around but still he could only manage one sentence.

"I'm sorry I let you down…"

"You haven't done anything wrong man." Said Ekaru. "I believe what you said was 'If you help get me out of here, I'll help you find your family'. So far, you've held up your end of the deal."  
Sonic smiled, his first for many minutes and got back to his feet.

"Still, if you're gonna be sticking around, you might want to get a holster and knife sheathe or at the very least a backpack or something. You should probably take his." He pointed to James Sunderland's corpse. "He probably won't be needing it considering his… condition."  
Sickened as he was by the thought, Sonic couldn't deny the logic in taking the body holster. Trying to carry his knife, gun and radio while moving quickly was very cumbersome and stopped him from moving at his top speeds. Reaching around the corpse and fiddling with the many straps and buckles that held the holster in place was disgusting and highly unpleasant, but after getting it off and securing it to his own body, Sonic could admit it was handy to have.  
There were pockets for knives, pistols, spare ammo, a radio and a chest mounted flashlight with spare batteries; something that could be as invaluable as any weapon. As Sonic was putting his things into their respective places, he felt that one of the pockets were already full. Reaching back, he pulled out the offending object to see what it was. What he drew out was an incredible, silver bladed dagger. It wasn't a knife; those were just standard work tools and weapons. This was something else entirely. The handle was made of twin, silver, skeletal dragons that were intricately intertwined to create an effect of overall solidity. The handle guard was a sacrificial pedestal with chrome bodies melted into its very surface. But the blade was strangest of all. The blade shimmered like Mercury, lined at its edges with an unrecognisable black metal and was so thin that it was barely visible when turned on its side. It almost seemed to radiate a tangible feeling of death. Ekaru peeked at the blade over Sonics shoulder and gave an impressed whistle.

"That's one hell of a blade you got there!" he exclaimed. "That'll be worth a tonne when we get out of here."

"Yeah…" mumbled Sonic, eyes still fixed on the knife. _How easily could I cut his throat with you?_ He thought. Wait, what?! Where had that come from?! He quickly replaced the blade to where he'd found it, not wanting to feel its taint any longer.

"Okay, we better get moving." Said Ekaru. "We've got a lot of ground to cover to get back to the shelter."

"Alright."  
The two emerged into the foggy streets, ready for the hike back, but Sonic stopped abruptly in middle of the road.

"Dude, hurry up. We can't stay in the open."

"Something just feels… off, is all."  
The two continued on, but Sonic still couldn't shake the feeling of unease. It was a like someone was walking just behind him, but once he turned to look, the burning feeling of some else's gaze just shifted to his other side. The two broke off into Rosewater Park but only a short way onto the trail, Sonic stopped again.

"We can't go this way."

"What?" Said Ekaru. "Why?"

"I've just got this feeling. We need to get out of here."

"Sonic, don't go losing it on my now. At least wait until we get inside before you do that."  
Sonic was dead silent, his eyes never shifting off Ekaru for even a second. His eyes flickered for only a moment, but it was the signal that Ekaru needed. The two drew their pistols together, but Sonic was faster. The ringing shot of fire echoed across the empty park. Ekaru stood stock still, trying to draw breathe. He looked down, running his hand over his body. There wasn't a single mark. Behind him a grey creature collapsed to the ground, a meaty hole blown through its chest. The other creatures began to rise from their hiding places, bursting from decaying vegetation, slinking from patches of darkness or rising from the murky waters of the almost-dry lake bed.

"Back to the apartments!" yelled Sonic.  
The two sprinted back through the park, but creatures were already approaching them on the road by the time they got out. Breaking left the two tried to lose them in the room where they'd first found the creatures. They made about six steps into the room before the exits were cut off by more monsters that had been lying in wait for them. The two were encircled in monsters and had nowhere left to run. The two reached for their weapons, bracing for the moment that their near deaths would claim them. The creatures were closing their ranks slowly, enjoying their prey squirming for survival. The mass of bodies were drawing tighter and tighter, crushing the air out of the room itself. They were dead, Sonic knew that; but it didn't stop him searching still for a way out. That's when he spotted the hole Ekaru had made in the floor earlier.

"Ekaru? Do you trust me?" he asked.

"What?!"

"I said 'Do you trust me? I need an answer!"

"Sure! Fine! Why?"

"So I'll know you'll forgive me for this later." He said with smirk.  
He fired two shots into the floor and stomped on the resulting holes. The wood gave way easily, the rest of the floor around it crumbling and splintering with the combined weight of the bodies. The Sonic and Ekaru feel down into the black of the abyss under those floor boards with a horde of the creatures to keep them company, but no struggles were heard from that black hole; only silence.

_13hours 11mins…_  
Finally bubbling back to consciousness Sonic tried to use his heavy arms to push himself up, but only succeeded in rolling over with a slight groan. The pain in his arm had shot back up and was now mingling with a whole symphony of other pains and aches that now racked his battered body. He tried again to stand and made it into an uncomfortable kneeling stance with which to survey the room. All around him mangled grey bodies lay in various states of solidity, strewn among rubble and debris. From among one pile of bodies there was a sudden burst of movement. Sonic tried to reach for his pistol, but couldn't spot it among the surrounding wreckage. The pile of bodies split apart to reveal Ekaru, dusty and looking particularly displeased.

"I really hate you right now; you know that right?" he said.

"Better you hate me and be alive than not and not." Quipped Sonic. "C'mon, I didn't plan this far ahead, so we're gonna have to find a way out of here."  
The two rose shakily, stopped in shock when they saw the huge shard of wood embedded in Ekarus ribs. The wolf immediately grabbed its shaft and yanked it straight from his body; making a horrible sucking sound as it exited, accompanied by a small squirt of blood.

"Dude!" yelled Sonic, rushing over to his friend. "You should've left it in! That could have been plugging up something important!"

"If I had, then I wouldn't be able to bind it." He said, blood dribbling through the fingers clamped over his wound. He quickly tore off a strip of material from the bottom of his T-shirt and tied it across his chest. "Okay, let's go."  
The two set off at a slow lope, not wanting to tire themselves out too much in case they were down in the darkness of the tunnels for a long time. Sonics flashlight was an absolute blessing when navigating, keeping the path clear visible, but it revealed something else Sonic wished he wasn't seeing. Despite his brave face Ekaru was obviously in pain, wincing with each step, and his state was deteriorating in a reverse relationship with the size of the swelling wet patch on his shirt. After about fifteen minutes, Ekarus legs gave way, dropping him to the ground with a defeated sigh. Sonic could almost see it coming, so he broke his fall as much as he possibly could.

"Ugh…" moaned Ekaru, forcing a weak grin to face. "Guess you were right buddy…"  
Sonic supported Ekaru as much as he needed to make the wolf walk, but the weight on Sonics shoulders only increased as time went on.  
After what felt like an eternity, the two spotted their first source of light since leaving the cavern they'd fallen into. Sonic rushed towards it, practically carrying the only semi-conscious Ekaru on his shoulders.

"C'mon man, don't go on me yet!" he kept saying, always talking to his friend. "Just a little further and we'll be out of here. You hear that? You're gonna be okay!"  
But Sonic wondered if those assurances were as much for his sake as for Ekarus. Bursting into the light, they found themselves in a huge cavern with a single ray of weak sunlight illuminating its centre. Unlike all the other tunnels and caverns that they had found so far, this one appeared man-made; with smooth, flat walls, a red, rusted floor as well as strange hieroglyphic paintings and several tiers of wooden scaffolding. Sonic laid Ekaru against a pile of rocks and went to investigate the ideograms further. The shapes seemed totally abstract and devoid of logic but, looking at them from a distance, they seemed to spell out something that was almost readable.  
_What is this place?_ Thought Sonic.

"…need to leave…" came a distressed mumbled from behind Sonic. He turned to see Ekaru desperately trying to wave him over. Sonic hurried over, hoping to calm him down a bit.

"Dude, relax. We can't leave just yet. You're too weak to travel. We'll rest up and leave in a while, okay?"

"No…" insisted Ekaru. "You need to leave now… This place…"

"What about this place?"

"The circle… the circle…"

"What about the circle?"

"S-Summoning…"  
Sonics blood turned to ice. That red that streaked the floor. Was it really rust? Could he be sure? Could someone bring themselves to do that to another person? His heart pounded faster. Yes. Maybe someone could.

"For what?" Sonic demanded. "For summoning what?!"  
Sonic didn't need an answer. From the depths of the shadows came a sudden clacking, followed by clicking and tapping. The sounds were as rapid as automatic gunfire, but sounded not louder than pebbles striking a stone surface. Then came the whooshing; a gentle whipping of wind that surged all around like they were encased in a tiny invisible tornado.

"Memories…" whispered Ekaru.  
The rushing sound of wind was growing stronger, now accompanied by a soft rustling noise like that of crushed paper. The shadows themselves seemed to be surging in one solid mass; the source of the sound and movement impossible to discern.

"Nightmares…" he uttered.  
The noise and wind was reaching a climax, becoming so loud that they stabbed at the brain, drowning out all thought and rationality. Sonic could feel it like twisted knives racing across the surface of his brain, purging him of sense and reason, leaving only one thing in their wake; pure insanity.

"…brought together as one."  
And just like that, the cavern became silent. Only now, they weren't alone. At the furthest reach of the light, there stood a figure encased in shadow. It wasn't large or even intimidating. From a glance, it actually just looked like a brown furred jaguar boy. That much registered with Sonic, but it seemed to mean a lot more to Ekaru as a look of disbelieving recognition shot across his face. He determinedly forced himself to his feet, despite even his heavy injury. Standing awkwardly, he took a long look at the figure before speaking.

"T-Tovias…" was all he could say. The name came back to Sonic too, remembering that time back in the cellar that felt like so long ago.

_"I found his body hanging from a tree outside the camp. They'd ripped the patch off his jacket, cut the tattoo off his arm and carved one word into his forehead: __Unworthy…"__ "Most of the guys just wanted to beat him up for fun but, after they threw him into the campsite, nobody could catch him. Guys got pissed of pretty soon and even started shooting at him, but nobody could hit him."_

Ekaru was approaching the Tovias slowly with a pained shuffle, but he certainly wasn't slowing down or stopping.

"What are you doing here?" Ekaru asked. "You should be dead. I saw you die!"  
Tovias remained silent. Still closer he came; hand reaching out to touch his dead friend, but the questions were coming faster than Ekaru was.

"If you weren't dead then why didn't you stop me killing deity?"  
Silence.

"How did you end up here?!"  
No response.

"How the hell are you STILL ALIVE?!"  
Not a word.

"ANSWER ME!" screamed Ekaru, fist flying forward to strike his dead friend. Tovias dodged easily, but he didn't so much step back as he… _glided_. Ekaru was losing it; unable to understand how his friend was still alive and if he was alive, why he was totally catatonic.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?!" he cried. Tovias never said a word, but a gentle whisper in the air dripped the word maliciously into his ear.

_Retribution…_

Gently, three more bodies descended from the dark to join Tovias. They were all anthromorphs; wolves no less, a little girl, an older teenage boy about nineteen and a grizzled man.

_His family!_ Sonic realised with a jolt. But it seemed that Ekaru was taking that fact much harder. He had collapsed to the ground and was alternating between whispering to himself and quietly weeping. The four bodies began to circle Ekaru slowly as _Retribution _was whispered seemingly out the ether again and again. Sonic could see they were held aloft by some tube that entered their necks and ran down their backs that retreated into the black to some unknown source. They began to circle faster, their speed increasing in time with the speed and ferocity with which the whispers grew. Their sounds were growing more violent as were their and Ekarus movements; the whisper somehow managing to scream and hiss across his eardrums. Sonic stood frozen, mesmerised and horrified as this sick ritual played out in front of him.  
As the climax was reached Ekaru wrenched his head up suddenly. Everything came to a halt; totally still, totally silent.  
But there was a faint clicking as the source of where the bodies had come from scuttled out of the darkness. Like a disgusting tape worm crossed with a centipede, it moved along on legs of ribs that protruded from its side, its skin no more than layer upon layer of bodies piled up like a fleece of meat. It drew the Tovias and Ekarus family to it on their support tubes, the tip of its head peeling open to show circles and circles of daggered teeth littering its gullet. It looked at him through more than a hundred eyes scattered across its body, not a single one containing pupil, but a wicked, spiked, black gothic cross instead.

But, Ekaru saw none of this. He was only focused on those he had held closest to his heart and who he had left for dead. Through his tears and mask of overwhelming despair, he managed one simple sentence.

"I-I'm… Sorry…"  
And like that, his loved ones tore him apart without mercy.  
Sonic couldn't bear to look, but the sounds alone were more than enough to paint the picture in his head of exactly what was happening. Once the sounds had subdued along with the sickly, rolling feeling he had in his stomach, Sonic finally worked up the nerve to look at what was left of his friend.  
But there was nothing left. As if death wasn't enough, Ekarus body was now attached to one of those horrible tubes and was floating among the other bodies like some kind of possessed ragdoll mannequin.  
Whatever feelings of sickliness and sorrow Sonic may have been feeling before dissolved in an eye blink; only to be replaced by unadulterated fury and hate. The anger was burning through everything Sonic had inside him, leaving only hate and madness in its wake. Hate for Ekaru for dying and leaving him here. Hate for the town for taking his friend away. Hate for the world for sending him to this twisted, cruel, fucked up place. But most, most of all; hate for himself for bringing Ekaru into all this, for making him suffer and for essentially killing him. In the mist of red that surrounded his mind, Sonic ran forward and snatched up Ekarus discarded semi-automatic. With a roar, he fired at the beast until the chamber of empty, but the bullets only thudded uselessly into the meat shield of corpses that coated the creature. The creature turned and swung its tail, smashing straight into Sonic and sending him crashing into the nearby scaffolding. The pain wasn't too intense, but it was enough to bring him to his senses, making him realize if he didn't shape up; he was going to die. Taking cover behind one of the last upright scaffolding poles, he tried to slow his breathe and avoid detection.  
But it seemed the creature was preoccupied with a totally different problem. When it had smashed Sonic into the scaffolding, one of the largest splinters had pierced on of its many eyeballs. It was now trying to pick the splinter out of its deflated eye sack, and seemly being in a lot of pain as it was doing so._  
That's it! _Realized Sonic. He reached for his pistol, but found to his dismay that it was gone from its holster. Instead, he found his fingers curling reflexively around something different. Pulling it from its pouch, he looked at the dagger he'd found on James Sunderland's body. It blade was still shiny and slightly blackened around its edges. It was calling to him, ever so gently. It was baying for blood.

"Okay then…" whispered Sonic. "Let's see what you can do."  
At that, he sprinted headfirst out of cover and straight towards the creature. It spotted him instantly, swinging around to catch him with its tail, but he ducked lower as he ran. It sent on of the hovering bodies shooting after him; the smallest of which, the little girl, caught onto his shoulder and bit deep. But that didn't matter. He didn't even feel it. His focus was on that one, fat, yellow orb that was hanging only a few feet ahead of him. With the dagger, he cut deep, spilling the warm, bloody, gelatinous load of the eyeball across the stone floor. The girl attached to his shoulder immediately released, as if feeling that pain as her own. Sonic didn't wait for another chance; he just got out of swinging distance of the creature before turning on his heel and darting back to do it again. Slicing open writhing, jiggling eyeball after eyeball, turning the floor slick with blood and jelly seemed to appease the want for blood in the blade, but was having quite the opposite effect on Sonic. Every slash became harder. Every wound cut deeper. Every scream and cry echoed louder and with more pain. It was glorious. After minutes of run, slash turn and repeat, Sonic stopped for a second to see that he'd reduced that slavering, murderous beast to nothing more than blind, bleeding, whimpering centipede. And now it was going to die.  
This was going to be his last shot, no matter what happened. Sprinting forward and getting within grabbing distance of the creatures underside, he plunged the knife deep and ripped open its shield of meat. Fleshy, brown hide was finally exposed as he brought down the dagger for the killing blow. But his path wasn't clear for long. Ekarus body moved to shield the weak spot. Sonics blade halted. Could he do this? Could he really kill his friend? No, he couldn't kill him… because Ekaru was already dead. His blade had halted for a second. But for only a second. The dagger stabbed deep, running through Ekaru and the beast with almost no resistance. The liquid of the creature life ran over his hands. Its pulse died in his fingers. And so the creature crumbled and came crashing down.  
Sonic stepped back, panting hard, his whole body slick with disgusting, grimy fluids. The air temperature began to drop. The walls began to come alive. The world began to change. Black, infectious veins rose from the ground and engulfed the creature whole, but stayed for only a second before retreating back into the ground; leaving nothing behind but Ekarus ruined corpse. The hedgehog walked solemnly to his dead friend and replaced his semi-automatic in his hand.

"This belongs with you pal." He said, eyes glancing down for a moment. There was the wound in his chest where Sonic had gone through to kill the creature... but… there was more. Small cuts had opened up all along his body, his eyes had been gouged out and there was a large splinter of wood embedded in his tail. Sonic suddenly stepped back, something clicking into place in his head. No… that just wasn't possible. That creature had been real. He'd seen it. He'd heard it. He'd smelt it. Dammit, he'd even felt it! What he was thinking was impossible. But it made so much sense. Looking back at the blade, the black of its edges had moved slightly closer to its centre, swallowing up more of its lustre. Sonic turned and ran, racing into the dark without a second thought for his safety or what lay ahead.  
_Would an innocent person run?_ Taunted a voice in his head. No. An innocent person wouldn't run. But he was innocent. Then why was he running?  
_Don't question it Sonic. Just concentrate on getting away._

Sonic had been stumbling around in the black for what felt like hours. It had probably only been minutes. But darkness had a strange way off affecting time. He couldn't stop. He couldn't stop until he was far enough away from that body. But, the other side of the world would never be far enough away. It would follow him.

"Keep going!" he told himself.  
Running through the dark corridors of the caves he could feel icy whispers rushing past his ears, but no matter how fast he was, the whispers caught up.  
_Guilty…Guilty…Guilty…Guilty…_  
Run faster. Never stop. Fingers were reaching out to him. Nails and hands from the walls snagging of his clothes and kit.  
_Guilty…Guilty…Guilty…Guilty…  
_Faster. Leave then behind. Arms grabbing and snatching. Slowing him down as the memories rushed to reach him.  
_GUILTY…GUILTY…GUILTY…GUILTY…_  
Bodies. Walls of faces watching and judging the sinner that passed them; their stares burning marks into his skin, scorching black like his soul.  
_GUILTY!GUILTY!GUILTY!GUILTY!_

"Shut up!" he yelled, forcing his way through the forest of limbs, the tunnel growing smaller and tighter with each step, trying to reach the salvation of light up ahead. Bursting through the wall of extremities that blocked his way, he fell to his knees onto a dirty, but solid, wooden floor. Looking back, there was no tunnel of limbs or bodies behind him. But neither was there a door.

"What the…?" he murmured before standing and surveying the room. A single bath tub was filled with stagnating pool of red liquid, while the entire opposite wall was lined with mirrors. Looking at himself in the filthy, stained glass; Sonic wondered if that cold, scowling frown was what really sat upon his own face. A hand suddenly thudded against the glass, but it wasn't his. Sonic fell back in fright as the reflections hand pressed against the glass while it remained perfectly upright. The black, throbbing lines of infection surged towards his reflection in the mirror, but remained stock still around him. The lines ran along the ground and up the reflections body; rotting it and slowly turning it black as night. Once the reflection was indistinguishable from the line that covered it, it reached behind itself and pulled out the silhouette of a dagger and proceeded to slit its own throat. Sonic, terrified, tried to scramble away as t black blood bubbled from the wound. The droplets didn't hit the ground though; they turned into moths and flies that came through the mirror and swarmed Sonic in a terrible plague. He tried to swat and kill them, but there were so many he felt like he was drowning in a seething grey mass.

"**WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?!" **he screamed, falling to the ground in hysterics. Sonic was about to lose it completely, but in his final glance back up, he spotted his weakening reflection struggling to kneel as it lost more and more blood. It dipped shoved its fingers in its own gore and scribbled one sentence on the surface of the mirror.

_**You will suffer…**_

Time passed even slower than before as Sonic lay curled on the floor of that room. The flies were gone. But the memories were not. The reflection was gone. But the sight was not. The words were gone. But their meaning would never go. Sonic lay there, hoping that both his psyche and mind would heal or just shatter and leave him alone. The nudging he felt on his shoulder wasn't important. It was just another meaningless stimulation that would do nothing for him. Nothing could help him now. But it wouldn't go away. The feeling wouldn't leave him. And then the voice. Not cold and mocking, but gentle and innocent; such a far cry from this hell that he couldn't be sure it wasn't just an echo in his own head. But it kept saying one word.  
_Mister…Mister… Mister…  
_Those words. They were child's words weren't they? And the feeling of gentle nudging for attention. A child would do that as well, wouldn't they? Uncurling from his position Sonic saw his first glimpse of tired innocence for so long. A small rabbit girl with long ears and moist eyes was calling him for attention.

"Mister, please help me!" She sobbed. "My daddy won't wake up…"

**Well guys, this was a heck of a ride to write. I hope it's as much of a ride to read. Everyone's like O_O when Ekaru died, but I did mention that OC's can and will become causalities. But we live and learn. As I mentioned in my last chapter, I have done some conceptualised drawing for this fic; including a rough creation of the first **_**it**_** monster with some minor alterations for wider audience appeal. I'll include a link at the end. Again, one last big thank you to ShadowEmpress76 for being such a good sport throughout this and for always supporting my work. Ekaru had died, but he lives on in your stories.**

'**Til next time,  
Chaos Critique  
Link: #/art/Creature-350115057?_sid=7d3c6574**


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